I have written since I can remember. Sometimes I just let my imagination take me wherever it wanted to go, and wrote until my eyelids dropped. Other times, I had to push myself in order to get something readable that met the established criteria for a given task. But every time, I did my best to make it work.

A few weeks ago, our teacher asked us to create a Fairy Tale Character. Yes! I thought. That was possibly the best chore I had this semester. She provided us with a template (included below) that we had to use to make this character as real as possible. We were required to create the psychological aspects of the characters, more than the usual physical descriptions. And depending on how comfortable students felt about dealing with feelings, some of us were thrilled to bits, while others thought OMG! How are we going to do this?

And here is the point. Creating a character requires, and deserves, a level of commitment that transforms the task into something serious. You need to be able to put yourself on your character’s shoes, and the last item of the template (Your personal connection with the character), allowed me to think that it could have a further use, such as including our characters in a story. In the end, if you have created them, who could understand them better than yourself?

But that wasn’t the case. This week, the teacher told us that we would be required to write, in groups of four or five people, the plot of a story, using characters created by others. It made everything much more difficult and challenging. What if the creators of Alexiah, Mr. Fitman, Guffita or Wickedmore (the characters my group had to include in our story) don’t like what we have done with them? That was my biggest fear when we started working on the project.

Now the project is almost done, and we have to present it to the rest of the class. I wonder what would be left of the character I create. I know how she thinks, I know what she wants. Will she behave the way I expect? I will have the chance to check it next Tuesday. I can’t wait.

This week, my middle group had a great Poetry Workshop, and one of the activities that Raquel proposed us, had to do with the creation of Shape Poetry. In this case, we had to find inspiration using a model that she provided, and there where up to six different types of shape poetry for us to explore.

But, what is shape poetry? in Spanish we know it as caligrama, and according to Wikipedia, it is

A poem, phrase, or word […] arranged in a way that creates a visual image. The image created by the words expresses visually what the word, or words, say. In a poem, it manifests visually the theme presented by the text of the poem.

In my opinion, it is a great resource to present poetry to our pupils in a different way to the ‘create two verses that rhyme’. It is very visual, catchy and interesting. In this case, the poem can be enjoyed not only by listening to, or reading the words, but also by understanding the message that the picture is provoking.

It could be said that the words layout provide a visual clue to understand the poem. Moreover, it can engage those students whose visual-spatial intelligence is more developed than their linguistic intelligence, as they can create poems using few words.

Here you can find some examples taken from the blog “El baúl de las palabras”, created by a literature teacher from IES Federico García Lorca, in La Puebla de Cazalla (Sevilla). They are the proof that, with the proper guidance, pupils or young students can create beautiful poetry.

Furthermore, there are some artists who are able to create amazing designs, such as those by Joni James, in which she uses the names of the parts of the object she is ‘drawing’ to recreate it, as you can see on the bicycle, or words related to the topic, as in the guitar and the heart.

The next question is, can it be used in the classroom with Primary Education pupils? I would say yes. Although the examples above are more elaborated, there are simpler ideas (like the ones we created in class), that can help us teachers, to introduce poetry in the classroom in a really enjoyable and catchy way.

I hope you like the post. I encourage you to explore the topic, and also to have a look at Joni James’ gallery, where you will find authentic works/words or art.

Have a nice week!

Sources:

Blog “El Baúl de las palabras”. IES Federico García Lorca (La Puebla de Cazalla, Sevilla) http://lorcaelbauldelaspalabras.blogspot.com.es/2014/02/caligramas-en-ingles.html

Joni James Calligrams https://www.etsy.com/es/people/jonijames

Wikipedia (Definition of Calligram) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calligram

This is my fourth post, and I would like to explore a little bit the emotional outcomes of reading and writing fairytales and other stories in the classroom.

Fairytales are usually seen as something innocent, created for children by adults, with the only aim of being amusing. Sometimes, we try and go deeper into the stories, and the result is that we get to the conclusion that they also transmit values and pieces of advice. But my question is: Is it everything fairytales have to offer? My answer is a big round NO.

When the writer creates a story, and when it is a good one, all of a sudden the characters are brought to life. They have something to say, they are somebody, and the reader or the listener will connect with their emotions, feel sorry when they are sad, compassionate when they suffer, full of joy when they succeed. And all of this wouldn’t be possible without empathy.

I am sure that all of you understand this term perfectly, but just in case, let me introduce you a definition by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary , according to which, Empathy is

the feeling that you understand and share another person’s experiences and emotions : the ability to share someone else’s feelings.

Why is it important?, and how is it related to health? It is important because when we are teaching literature, or English, or whichever subject you prefer, we are also transmitting values, helping our pupils develop to their full potential, and it includes allowing them to be themselves, to build self-confidence and to be able to understand others’ needs, which is a proof of mental health.

What does it have to do with Fairytales? In fact, a lot. In order to be told or read, a tale needs to be created. And it is at that point of creation, where the pupils have to imagine their characters, and to provide them with a personality to make them deeper and catchy for the reader. Focusing on the character’s aims, dreams and hopes, fears and faults, the pupils will use  the language they know, the literary figures we have taught them, but also their own experience about life.

For example, a kid who is happy, will more likely create happy characters, and it is possible that only good things happen to them. On the other hand, if another child is going through something, it is possible that this process of creation can help him/her to externalize needs, fears, or experiences, just like they were the character’s and not theirs.

This is one reason that makes children prefer stories whose characters have something in common with them. If they go on an adventure, so are the readers. If they become friends with a vampire, suddenly it turns from a horrifying creature, to the best of companies. If they are mice who can cook, they will want to be super chefs.

And what about you? can you see any other reason to consider fairytales good for health? I am looking forward to read them!

This week’s project was related to creating our very own Classroom Library. It was a tough task to do, if we wanted to make it operative, attractive and affordable. There were plenty of things to be taken into account, but I was positive about not leaving aside what could help the students to get the most of the opportunity that having a Classroom Library can bring to their reading experience.

It would be naïve to think that students are going to read, just because we, the teachers, want them to do it. There must be something that ignites the intrinsic motivation that will create real long-lasting readers, and sometimes we have to make use of different strategies to get it.

You could think now that if you want them to read, you need books, and I agree, although paper books are not the only type of books that we can present to our pupils. In this case, my proposal is about an online resource that can be really useful for both pupils and teachers, and it could also involve parents in their children’s learning experience.

It is called Raz-Kids, and I had the chance to see how it works last year. This award-winning programme allows pupils to access to hundreds of levelled books (fiction and non-fiction), and they have the opportunity to read, listen to, or even recording the stories themselves. Apart from this, they can take some quizzes that will make them earn points to be used to create their own robots and reading rockets. This works wonders as extra motivation for the pupils, who want to read and take the quizzes to improve their level.

It sounds good for students, but…what does it have for the teachers? In fact, plenty of things. It allows not only to monitor the amount of reading done by each pupil, but also the quality of the reading. For example, and thanks to the quizzes that the students take so willingly in order to earn points, the programme generates a lot of useful information for the teachers, as shown in the next pictures.

The license is intended for a class of up to 36 students and 1 teacher. Each pupil has their own password, and the teacher can control some features for the pupils, such as the beginning level, if they can play or not with the robot, or if it is allowed for them to access books in Spanish.

If I had the chance to use it in my future jobs as a teacher, I would do it, no doubt. What about you? Do you consider it interesting? I am looking forward to have your feedback!

Thanks for reading, comments will be welcome

That is why we had to work in groups of three people, in most cases with those who, for any reason, we hadn’t had the chance to do it before, and prepare a 5-minute presentation to try and convince our classmates that the author we had become experts in (or kind of), deserved to be chosen as the most relevant in Children’s Literature.

It must be said that I wasn’t aware of the exciting life that most of them had/are having, and I am truly convinced that Roald Dahl, which was the one that my group was in charge of presenting (thanks Ali and Carmen!), should be at the very top of that list. Not only was he a writer, but also a pilot and even a spy. Moreover, his strong desire to help his children, made him design a valve to solve one of his son’s medical conditions… He was a truly interesting man.

Anyway, is it enough (having an exciting life, I mean) to be considered as the best author? Probably not, but if you scratch a little bit, you will find that he won not only some of the most important prizes regarding Children Literature, but also gained the respect of his profession. Not everybody can say that there is a prize named after them, nor a Museum devoted to his works.

Nevertheless, every minute of the presentations was worthy, because the other groups did a great work introducing David Shannon and his No, David!, Eric Carle and The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Julia Donaldson and The Gruffalo, Maurice Sendak with Where The Wild Things Are, Marc Brown and his aardvark Arthur, Dr. Seuss and The Grinch, or E.B. White with Stuart Little. And there are more yet to be presented.

I guess that next time I go to a bookshop, I will look at the Children’s Literature shelves with more acknowledging eyes.

Fortunatelly, things have changed since I started learning English two decades ago, and after doing some research about Synthetic Phonics, I came across a website that caught my attention. It is called ‘Teach Your Monster to Read‘, and it is intended for native speakers of English aged 4 and above. In this case, and even though there could be some pupils who were not able to understand all that is being said during the game, it is quite intuitive, so  I consider that it could be used with Spanish speakers from the First and Second Cycle of Primary.

The first thing that pupils will find about this game is that they have to design their own avatar, whose physical features are highly personalisable, with the possibility of adding new complements along the game.  This could help children feel motivated and forget that they ‘have to learn’, and just learn while having a good time. Moreover, each stage adds a new type of game, so the children can choose among a variety of mini-games that makes it more interesting as the level goals are achieved.

Whenever a new sound is introduced, the game provides a word beginning with that sound, but instead of doing it in the written form, which could be difficult for early readers, it is done using an easily-recognisable picture like the one below (‘r’- like in ‘rain’).

In my opinion, it is a simple but effective way of learning English phonics. Based on Synthetic Phonics, phonemes are presented following the frequency rate that is typical of these methods, but there is no feeling of repetitiveness, and when more than one phoneme is presented at a time, they form a real word, there are not just random groupings of letters.

Another positive aspect about this proposal is that, whereas there is a version that can be downloaded at a price for tablets, it is free of charge for PC and laptops. Not having to spend extra money so the pupils can use it using the computer lab or at home, is great.

My name is Loli Casco, and I’m attending Prof. Raquel Fernández subject on Children’s Literature this year. Reading is one of my hobbies, so I’m looking forward to learn new ways of transmitting this passion to my pupils. It’s a pleasure to have  a cooperative blog like this one, where we can share our thoughts and ideas about the topics related to the subject. Let’s start!